Argentina: Roman Catholic Nun Helped Priests Rape Children

Kosaka Kumiko, a catholic nun, was charged by the Prosecutor’s Office for her involvement in covering up the rapes and sexual abuse by priests against children at an institute for children with hearing disabilities. Photo obtained from a handout by the Prosecutor’s Office.

The school is located in in Lujan de Cuyo, a city about 620 miles northwest of Buenos Aires.

According to the 24 children who have come forward, the rapes took place in the bathrooms, dorms, garden and a basement at the school.

Authorities began investigating Kumiko when a former student claimed Kumiko made her wear a nappy to cover up bleeding after she was raped.

The children said priests, Nicola Corradi, and the Rev. Horacio Corbacho, repeatedly raped them by an image of the Virgin Mary inside the small school chapel.

Nobody could hear their cries because all the other children at the school were deaf.

The rapes also took place where children went to confession.

One woman who was abused said “the priests would always say, ‘Let’s go play, let’s go play’ and they would take us to the girls’ bathroom.”

Five priests were previously arrested in late November 2016 by police who raided the school and found porn magazines. They also found $34,000 in cash stashed in Corradi’s room.

Kumiko, who is originally from Japan but has Argentine citizenship, was arrested and charged over the allegations that she helped them. She also stands accused of physically abusing students in her care.

Authorities in Argentina say Kumiko had been on the run for about a month before turning herself in. Local media showed the nun in handcuffs and wearing her habit and a bullet-proof vest as she was escorted by police to a court hearing.

Kumiko denied any wrongdoing during the eight-hour hearing on Thursday. Authorities say that she lived at the Provolo Institute for children with hearing problems from 2004 until 2012. She was first investigated when a former student accused of making her wear a nappy to cover up a hemorrhage after she was allegedly raped by priest Horacio Corbacho.

Corbacho, fellow priest Nicola Corradi and three other men were arrested last year after they were charged with sexually abusing at least two dozen students at the Provolo Institute.

They are being held at a jail in Mendoza and have not spoken publicly since the arrest.

If found guilty all parties involved in raping the children, and covering up the rapes face 10 to 50 years in prison.

Corradi had earlier been accused in Italy of abusing students at the Provolo Institute in Verona, a notorious school for the deaf where hundreds of children are believed to have been sexually assaulted over the years by two dozen priests and religious brothers.

Advocates for clerical sex abuse have expressed anger that Corradi wasn’t sanctioned by the Vatican and allegedly went on to abuse children in Pope Francis’ native Argentina.

A Vatican investigative commission recently visited Mendoza to learn more about the case against the priests.

TIMELINE OF ABUSE OF ‘HUNDREDS OF CHILDREN’ AT THE PROVOLO INSTITUTE

2009: Abuse at the Provolo Institute – which also has a branch in Italy – was first brought to light. Several students came forward and named and accused priests, including Corradi, who has been names again for abusing children in the Argentine Branch of the institute

2012: the Vatican apologized and sent the results of the investigation to the victims. Four of the accused priests were sanctioned while a fifth was exempted because he had Alzheimers. The priests who were sanctioned were ordered to live a life of prayer and penance and were under supervision, away from children, the Associated Press reported in 2016

2014: The students penned a letter, naming Corradi – who was now in the Pope’s native Argentina – but they received no response

2016: According to the Associated Press, a Vatican official said Pope Francis wanted to assure the victims that the church was taking steps to tackle the continuous sexual abuse. In December 2016, he used sign language while delivering his Christmas message, which fell on deaf years in Argentina as the controversy was unfolding

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